BJP fields VK Singh from Ghaziabad
19 March 2014 12:12 AM GMT
Singh, who has been seen a number of times with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, has joined the BJP on 1 March.
The speculation over his association with the party came after he met Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at his official residence in Bhopal few weeks ago. Then he termed the meeting a ‘courtesy visit’ but now many feels his candidature from Ghaziabad might yield some positive result for the party.
Singh came into controversy over his age issue and had a bitter war with the union government after claiming it was a conspiracy to malign his image. He was 26th Chief of Army Staff.
Interestingly, in October last year, he had ruled out joining the BJP, saying he will continue to fight for the cause of Anna against corruption in India.
He was the first serving military chief to drag the government to court claiming he was born in 1951, not 1950. However, documents with the Army reflected both dates. In his petition in the Supreme Court, he had asked for an explanation of why his claim that he was born in 1951 and not 1950 had been rejected by the Ministry of Defence.
Earlier, after joining the party in presence of party president Rajnath Singh, he said, ‘The BJP is the only nationalist party, which I want to see in power. We, who have served on borders, should work with nationalist forces. So we have decided to move with the BJP to bring a government which is stable, strong and takes decisions in national interest.’
Meanwhile, during his visit to Ghaziabad on Tuesday, Singh was heckled by BJP workers who were annoyed that local leaders didn’t get tickets. The former army chief reached the party office at 6.30 p.m. and met office bearers.
Dozens of BJP workers started shouting slogans like ‘Go back general, Ghaziabad needs local workers not paratroopers’.
The other candidate figured in the list is Shibun Lyngdoh who is going to contest from Shillong seat. Lyngdoh is the convener of Meghalaya Unit of Statue Of Unity (SOU), which is a dream project of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.
The speculation over his association with the party came after he met Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at his official residence in Bhopal few weeks ago. Then he termed the meeting a ‘courtesy visit’ but now many feels his candidature from Ghaziabad might yield some positive result for the party.
Singh came into controversy over his age issue and had a bitter war with the union government after claiming it was a conspiracy to malign his image. He was 26th Chief of Army Staff.
Interestingly, in October last year, he had ruled out joining the BJP, saying he will continue to fight for the cause of Anna against corruption in India.
He was the first serving military chief to drag the government to court claiming he was born in 1951, not 1950. However, documents with the Army reflected both dates. In his petition in the Supreme Court, he had asked for an explanation of why his claim that he was born in 1951 and not 1950 had been rejected by the Ministry of Defence.
Earlier, after joining the party in presence of party president Rajnath Singh, he said, ‘The BJP is the only nationalist party, which I want to see in power. We, who have served on borders, should work with nationalist forces. So we have decided to move with the BJP to bring a government which is stable, strong and takes decisions in national interest.’
Meanwhile, during his visit to Ghaziabad on Tuesday, Singh was heckled by BJP workers who were annoyed that local leaders didn’t get tickets. The former army chief reached the party office at 6.30 p.m. and met office bearers.
Dozens of BJP workers started shouting slogans like ‘Go back general, Ghaziabad needs local workers not paratroopers’.
The other candidate figured in the list is Shibun Lyngdoh who is going to contest from Shillong seat. Lyngdoh is the convener of Meghalaya Unit of Statue Of Unity (SOU), which is a dream project of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.
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